A typical data storage system stores and retrieves data for one or more external host devices. Conventional data storage systems typically include a storage processor and an array of disk drives electrically coupled to the storage processor. The storage processor includes one or more ports, such as Fibre Channel ports, that allow the host devices to connect to the storage processor and is typically configured to perform load and store operations on the array of disk drives on behalf of the host devices.
Within the storage system, the disk drives of the array are grouped into discrete sets called RAID groups or Storage Pools. Each RAID group includes slices or partitions organized into multiple logical units of (LUNs). In conventional storage systems, such as Fibre Channel storage systems, the storage processor is configured to monitor performance of the LUNs which are serviced by the array of disk drives. For example, the storage processor monitors the disk utilization and LUN utilization associated with the set of LUNs serviced by the system. As a result of such monitoring, the storage processor generates a report that includes performance information related to the storage system's LUNs and RAID groups. In order to optimize operation of the array of disk drives, a system operator can review the report and make decisions as to the migration of certain data or LUNs to different RAID Groups or Storage Pools serviced by the data storage system based upon the relative usage of the LUNs disk utilization.
For example, assume the RAID groups include a Fibre Channel (FC) array of disk drives and a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) array of disk drives. An FC array is characterized as typically having relatively better performance than a SATA array while a SATA array is characterized as typically having a relatively larger storage capacity than the FC array. In such an arrangement, when the system operator detects that a particular slice of the SATA RAID group experiences a relatively large amount of activity (e.g., a hot slice), in order to optimize operation of the data storage system, the system operator can issue a command to the storage processor to move the data from the relatively low-performance SATA slice to a slice in the relatively high-performance FC group. Additionally, when the system operator detects that a particular slice of the FC RAID group experiences a relatively low amount of activity (e.g., a cold slice), in order to optimize operation of the data storage system, the system operator can issue a command to the storage processor to move the data from the relatively high-performance FC slice to a slice in the SATA group.